Pile fabrics such as velours, velvets, and the like may be formed using a xe2x80x9csandwichxe2x80x9d method in which two fabrics substrates are woven or knitted in face to face relation with the pile ends interlocking. A cutting blade slits through the center of the xe2x80x9csandwichxe2x80x9d, cutting the pile ends to produce two separate pieces of fabric. Each cut piece provides a multiplicity of yarns project outwardly away from the base so as to define a user contact surface.
A common application for pile fabrics is in the covering of seating structures and other interior components for use within transportation vehicles. Such fabric is also used in the manufacture of furniture.
In forming a pile fabric around portions of a seating structure, the fabric bends around sharply defined radius portions of the surface being covered. Such bending typically causes the pile-forming yarns to spread apart, undesirably exposing a portion of the underlying base fabric. That is, bending of the fabric causes a visual xe2x80x9cbreakxe2x80x9d in the surface coverage provided by the pile yarns. Such a break in surface coverage is undesirable. To promote the uniformity of surface coverage around a sharp bend it may be possible to utilize extremely high pile density across the base fabric. However, such high pile densities may not be completely effective in avoiding pile separation. Furthermore, high pile density fabrics are expensive and relatively heavy, which is undesirable.
Another potential solution is to utilize so-called xe2x80x9ctexturedxe2x80x9d yarns in forming a pile across a fabric. Textured yarns are made using processes such as false twisting and the like so as to impart a textured irregular surface character along the length of the filaments within the yarns. This process of manufacture bulks the filaments along their length. The original uniform character of the filaments within the textured yarns is substituted with an irregular random character in textured yarns. While such textured yarns may provide beneficial surface coverage characteristics, they may pose problems in fabric manufacture while also adding complexity and expense due to the texturizing processes required. In addition, the use of textured yarns may give rise to an enhanced potential for the occurrence of single end defects and non-uniformity in dyeing, which are undesirable.
In FIG. 1, there is illustrated a typical prior art pile fabric 40 formed from multi-filament flat untextured yarns. As illustrated, in this construction the pile fabric 40 includes a base fabric layer 20 formed by the cooperating ground yarns 12, 14 and an outwardly projecting pile layer 50 formed by an arrangement of tufts 51 including the cooperating pile-forming fibrous elements of pile yarns 30, 32. In such a construction, the pile-forming fibrous elements forming the pile portion 50 are generally of a substantially equivalent height across the surface of the pile fabric 40. Moreover at the base of the prior art pile fabric 40, there are peak shaped voids 52 between the tufts 51 (i.e. rows) projecting away from the base fabric 20. As will be appreciated, upon bending the pile fabric 40 around a sharp radius such as a bolster portion of a chair, the pile-forming fibrous elements in the tufts may reveal undesirable voids at the radius of curvature, due in part to the excessive size of the peak shaped voids 52.